There’s an ever increasing variety of Halloween-related decorating choices to add spookiness to your home. The sky is darkening. You feel chill and ghostly horrors in the air as the moon shines brightly on this cloudless night… But where do you start in planning your Halloween decoration?

There are a lot of ways to decorate for Halloween. With some people concentrating on witches and monsters and others concentrating on graveyard sites and zombies. Take a ride around town and look at all of the great decorating ideas. Most people just decorate to entertain their neighbors and for the trick or treating kids that stop by. You too can turn you home “boo-tiful” with few decorations.

Plan to buy your pumpkins early to get the best selection. By selecting a variety of shapes and sizes of pumpkins, you will be able to make a variety of interesting jack-o-lanterns ghosts. And don’t forget about those miniature pumpkins, they can make great party favors or Halloween decorations also. And the day before the party, carve your pumpkins and double check you have enough candles or use small flashlights to show off their ghostly grins.

Add hauntingly spooky background ghost music or a collection of sing-a-longs for the kids. Also, you might want to incorporate some Halloween special effects outside with spooky horror sounds as your guests walk up to the front door. There are a lot of special music tapes or CD’s available to purchase.

Then, if you have railings on your porch, you can also find Halloween-colored garland to thread through the rails at the same store where you found your Halloween lights for the tree. It can be especially potent when combined with your spooky decorated Halloween tree.

By: Roger Wilco

About the Author:

Here’s a favorite tradition of our family in outdoor Halloween decor:

RING OF GHOSTS

Materials: 3 Twin-sized Sheets 3 Four foot lengths of flexible 1/2 inch PVC Piping, Wooden Stakes or Dowels 3 Small White Plastic Garbage Bags Masking Tape Newspaper String or Twist Ties Black Marker (optional)

Instructions: 1. First, determine a good location for your ghost gathering. Find a wide open area, or you may decide to group them around a tree or light pole.

2. To make the ghosts’ heads, crumple up newspaper and stuff the three small plastic trash bags to the desired size.

3. Stick one of the PVC pipes into one of the bags and wrap the neck with masking tape to secure. Repeat for the other ghosts.

5. Cover each ghost head with a sheet, gathering with string or a twist tie under each head. The head should be in the middle of the sheet, so the outer edges can be attached to the neighboring ghosts.

You can make taller or shorter ghosts, but you must adjust the size of sheet you use to accommodate. Our ghosts will be just under 4 feet tall.

4. Push the PVC piping into the ground in a circular formation about 1-2 feet apart. The sheets should touch the ground and cover up the support. You can also use wooden stakes or dowels, but your ghosts won’t have as much movement as they will with the PVC piping.

6. Finally, knot the ends of the sheets together to give the impression the ghosts are holding hands. Because the PVC is flexible, your ghosts will now bob and sway in the wind!

7. If desired, make Casper-like faces on the sheets with black marker.

We have 3 children, so we always make 3 ghosts, but you can connect as many ghosts as you wish!

They’ll look like they’re playing a spooky game of “ring-around-the-rosy”!

Click here to view our Ring of Ghosts

FLAGPOLE SPOOKS

These spooky decorations are easy if you have an angled flagpole attached to the front of your house.

Scary Flagpole Ghost: Hang a “Scream” style mask off the end of the flagpole. Tie a white sheet or a generous length of white tulle around and behind the mask. This scary creature will appear to be flying as his white garment flutters in the wind.

Flagpole Frankenstein: Hang a Frankenstein mask off the end of the flagpole. Tie a dark colored trash bag tied behind it. Shredding the trash bag around the edges will add to the spooky effect.

Flagpole Witch: Hang a witch mask off the end of the flagpole. Attach a witch hat to the mask, then tie a dark colored trash bag tied behind it. Shred the trash bag to make the witch’s robe flap in the wind.

By: Patricia Jensen

About the Author: